


Split In The Ocean

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Slash, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 12:00:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18365582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: A young merman helps a mother and her young cross dangerous enemy waters, not knowing this small kind gesture will be returned to him many tides later.





	Split In The Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Mermaid zine: [Seaborne](https://voltronmerzine.tumblr.com/)! :D

The current above them grew more turbulent after each passing minute, followed by waves of light and dark, before the light completely went out, obscured by thick algae bloom. Krolia held tighter to the baby in her arms and leaned forward, curling her large purple and blue tail towards her belly. 

She had not meant to enter enemy territories, but avoiding barrels of toxins on the sea floor and floating pollutions amidst the wide sea had left her dizzy enough to not realize she had swam into the Split of the Ocean. The name encompassed a number of dark regions ruled under the Zarkarian Empire; its denizens were numerous yet unseen, swift and deadly. 

She had wanted to speed through the the region, commonly referred to as the Rift, worried anything could come to harm her baby, and the fact that Keith had begun to get fussy in her arms was not helping matters. Thoughts of Zarkarian invisible tendrils and their stings, poisonous and pain indescribable, filled her head and she nearly froze in terror. She had faced and felled many foes, but this was different. Any harm to her young, and she couldn’t imagine life without him. 

She should have travelled with another of the Brotherhood, another of her kind, but she was normally adept to just roam these waters alone. 

Just as despair was beginning to win over, a hand brushed against her shoulder. 

“Kind lady, if you do not mind,” spoke the young merman. He was of a different school than herself: his hair the same black and white as his tail. His smile instantly calmed her pounding heart. “Where do you need to be?” 

And with one hand on her elbow, he led her through. His eyes glowed violet—a trait which should have brought on panic, but the young merman smiled reassuringly. 

In no time, he had led them far from the darkness and towards a friendly patch of coral reef, which Krolia could rest against and draw in clean water. Not once had Krolia sensed danger near them, as though the merman’s own presence kept enemy presence at bay. 

“Thank you,” she said as they bumped foreheads as a token of friendship. 

Keith bubbled and cooed in her arms. 

“He’s beautiful,” the young man said, turning his attention to the young in her arms. 

“His name is Keith.” Her young’s own tail was red, like his late father who had died only a few months ago. But the tips of Keith’s large, flowing fins, characteristics of their kind, still had some of the purple streaks like his mother. He was beautiful. He was her little pride and joy. 

“Keith,” the man repeated with a smile as Krolia settled her young into his arms. “Hello there, little guy! I’m Shiro.” 

“ _Shiwwo!_ ” came the tiny voice, giggling and sweet. “ _Hiwwo!_ ” 

Krolia smiled. Shiro was Keith’s hero. Later, she would tell her son the full story of how this merman saved both of their lives. 

“Thank you,” she said again. “If he’s anything like his father, he would say he owes you one.” 

Shiro laughed and a faint pink blush crossed his cheeks. “It is only my duty in helping fellow merfolk, kind lady! I ask nothing in return!”

*

“Shiro was _what_?” Keith gasped, busting out between long blades of kelp in disbelief, staring up at Kolivan.

“Taken by the Rift,” Kolivan said in a deadpan voice. Krolia lowered her head in sympathy. 

“Surely we can save him!” Keith said, turning to the line of merfolk around him, but none would look at him or even care to reprimand him for eavesdropping on a meeting of the Brotherhood. “If Shiro could lead others away from the Split—if we have proof the other one is alive out there—then we can—”. 

“Your youth gives you needless optimism,” Thace said in a such manner that was kind yet firm. “One who has been caught up in the Split in the Ocean never returns.” 

“But—”

“He speaks the truth,” Krolia said. 

“I feared the day that this would come,” Ulaz added. “Shiro has helped so many evade it at risk of his own life. Our friend will be dearly missed.” 

Deflated, Keith swam off. Shiro had saved him many tides ago. Growing up, he had asked his mother to retell the story to him, fantasizing about the events with the grandeur only a child’s imagination could conjure. But now Shiro had been taken by the same enemy, right in the belly of the Zarkarian Empire. 

Keith would not let his hero fall. 

“Where are you going?” inquired Pidge, swimming up to catch up with him. She was of a different school, as her tail was curled like that of a seahorse. And those merfolk were awfully inquisitive, but Keith found her presence welcoming. Sort of. 

“To rescue Shiro,” Keith said, stopping to place a hand on a reef. “He got captured into the Rift.” 

“Shiro-who? Chiaroscuro the Friendly Whale?” 

“No, Shiro the hero of Twelve Kingdoms in the Seven Seas, or whatever title everyone’s giving him this week!” 

“Oh, Shiro-Shiro! My brother’s friend!” 

“No way, not our Shiro!” cried a little voice as another merman popped from around the corner. He too was not of the same school as Keith; he wasn’t quite sure what Lance was. His tail was just a simple shape, blue in color, without the fancy fins that Keith and his kind had. At the mention of Shiro he was on instant alert. “He’s not hurt or dead, is he? That guy’s my hero!” 

“No,” Keith said, frowning, not wanting to entertain that thought. From behind Lance the dust on the seafloor picked up as another mer appeared; he was round, with eight yellow tentacles like an octopus; he regarded the group shyly. 

“Hey, Hunk!” Lance announced. 

“Shiro’s been in so many wars, this can’t be the end of him,” Hunk said. “I’ve always looked up to him. He’s, like, an immortal.” 

“But he’s been imprisoned _inside_ the Rift,” Keith explained. “The Brotherhood doesn’t think he’s coming back.” 

“Shiro’s a legend in our tribe,” Pidge said sadly. “He and Matt have been trying to battle the Zarkarian Empire.” 

Keith flinched at her words. 

“A bit ambitious of a task, if you ask me,” Hunk said. “I say just stay here with your family.” 

“How do you know he still has a family,” Lance asked. “I’ve never seen him with one. Have you, Keith?” 

Keith shook his head. “Don’t think he has one. And last I heard about the recent mission, things didn’t sound too good.”

Pidge twisted her hands together nervously. “How’s Matt?” 

“They’re sending Thace and Ulaz to find him,” Keith said. “We suspect he got out alive but is hiding. We think he was the one sending messages through the small fishes. But Shiro...”

He sighed deeply. “My mother taught me, whenever she used to tell me the tale of Shiro saving everyone, that a mer who extends their tail for others will find the whole ocean paying back in kind to them.” 

“So let’s rally the whole Alteania army on the Zarkarian Empire!”

“No, Lance, that’s not what I mean!” Keith flapped his tail in annoyance. “He saved my mother and me long ago, and now he’s in danger. I’m going to repay him.” 

“Oh! How?” Pidge said, swimming up excitedly near him. “Anything I can do? Please? He saved my brother!” 

“Yeah, you want some help, pal?” Lance added eagerly. “I want to save my hero!” 

“Wait, what?” Hunk said, eyes growing wide. “We-we’re to go save him? Are you sure about that?” 

Keith frowned. He really had no idea _how_ just yet, but if it weren’t for Shiro’s selflessness long ago he wouldn’t be here today. 

“I...I don’t know,” Keith finally said. “I don’t even have a plan. I don’t know what to expect down in the Split of the Ocean or how even to get there. My mother forbade me to go anywhere near it.” 

“Then maybe you should leave it for the Brotherhood of the Tridents,” Hunk said. “They’re a bunch of trained warriors in your tribe, right?” 

“No! Shiro saved _me_!” Keith flapped his tail angrily again. “I’m going to save him in return!” 

“You can bring him to Princess Allura for healing afterwards,” Lance suggested. “Her gates are always open to everyone, and she’s so kind and pretty and—”

“Lance!” Hunk sighed. 

“She’ll be able to help with anything he needs afterwards!” Pidge added brightly. “Brilliant! I think I know where to find the Rift. But we still need a plan for how to get him out of there.” 

“And how to get there without getting killed ourselves,” Hunk added. 

Keith reached around for his blade: a youngster’s weapon before he was to graduate to a full trident. “Here’s the plan.”

*

Shiro groaned at the passing light over his aching closed eyes, instinctively curling about himself. He flinched at the memory of the Zarkarians long tails wrapping about him, extruding electrical impulses and poison that sent jolts of excruciating agony, through his arm and entire body, causing him to black out several times. Another intense hit like that and he would never make it out alive.

He swam weakly towards the corner of his prison cell, trying to keep his sanity from dissolving. He had seen Matt swim away before the tendrils had covered him. If getting captured was the final thing Shiro did in his life, at least he’d know that Matt was safe. 

Gasping, Shiro watched as blackness took over the green and purple glimmer of the hall of the prison. 

“Hey, Shiro, you in there?” 

Blinking, he looked around until he saw a small seahorse-mer swimming towards him. 

“Matt?” 

“His sister, Pidge,” she said, beaming. “We’re getting you out of here.” 

“How—”

“Hunk’s filling the place with ink! It’s blinding them so bad, it’s absolutely brilliant!” 

Two more merfolk swam in, one which Shiro recognized. 

“Keith?” Shiro said. “You shouldn’t have, your mother will be horrified—”

“Please,” Keith said, smiling softly. “I owe you one.” 

He touched Shiro’s shoulder, encouraging him to follow, but Shiro sank from the contact. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” he said and pulled up his right arm for them to see. “They wrapped my arm in some sort of poisonous...seaweed...thing? It’s digging into my arm, I can’t pry it out. It’s spreading the poison throughout my body.” 

“Shiro...”

“Please, just leave. All of you.” 

Keith attempted to slash off the tendrils with his blade, but Shiro stopped him. 

“Don’t bother, unless you plan to cut my entire arm off,” he said. “It fused with the entire thing.” 

“If that’s what it takes to free you,” Keith said and set to work. 

The merman nearby cried out. “You’re going to cause a damage this way, man! Let me at it!” 

He swam up to Shiro’s arm, extending it out as far as he could go. Before Shiro could ask any questions, the merman’s jaws opened wide, exposing rows of long, thin, razor-sharp teeth for one horrifying moment before he chomped down. 

Pidge and Keith cried out as Shiro screamed. “What the flying fish, Lance!” 

“Lance spat out the tendrils (and what remained of Shiro’s arm), and grinned at them “And this is why you bring your Sharptoother!” 

Shiro remembered little else of how they got out alive. Pidge, being the smallest, had squeezed around his bleeding stump as they swam out. Keith held on to him closely as Hunk and Lance acted as their guards, defending them against the Zarkarians with ink and sharp teeth. 

It shouldn’t have been enough to get them free, yet somehow...the scene changed. Clean water passed through his gills. 

The pearly gates of Alteania Castle loomed just as Shiro’s vision began to blur. A golden-orange-finned merman named Coran had spotted them. Shiro remembered his name from the few times he had spoken with him, and he smiled weakly as they neared. 

“Halt! And what brings you to the mighty kingdom of— _mother of cod!_ Open the gates!”

He called out for his men, for Griffin and Leifsdottir, Kinkade and Rizavi, to help them inside. 

Shiro remembered little of Princess Allura and the healing process, save for memories of a long pink and white tail with billowing fins, a voice that could heal any turbulent thoughts, and songs that carried through the waves like magic.

*

When Shiro finally awoke, he was lying on the softest sandy bed. His stump had stopped bleeding and was bandaged up; his body felt stronger, a sign that the poison had been successfully drained out.

The princess was nearby playing cat’s cradle with Romelle when they took notice of him. 

“You’re awake!” Princess Allura announced, eyes bright. “How are you feeling, Shiro?” 

“Quick, before he tries to be a hero again!” Romelle added, and made to pin him down. 

“I think I won’t be doing that for some time,” Shiro said as Princess Allura held Romelle back with one arm. From the look on the princess’s face, Shiro guessed this wasn’t the first time the healer assistant had tested her patience. “Where are my rescuers?” 

Keith, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance poured into his room, circling around him, excitedly talking at once and each giving him a hug. Keith curled right against his chest and the two bumped their foreheads together as a token of friendship. 

“They found Matt!” Pidge announced. “He’s back home, but he wants to see you again and thank you!” 

“I broke a tooth when I chomped off your arm, but it was totally worth it!” Lance said. 

“Mom and Dad are so proud of me!” Hunk said. “Well, Mom was a little angry at first, _but_ she got over it quickly. She’s proud of what I did, even if she wished I called for backup. She wanted to strangle Emperor Zarkaria with her own tentacles!” 

“You were right,” Keith said, “my mother did get angry at me for disobeying the rules and leaving tribal grounds. But Kolivan said I can graduate to having my own trident now.” 

“That’s great!” Shiro said. 

Keith smiled. “What matters more is that you’re safe. You’re back.” 

Shiro looked around himself, hearing the good news about Matt, surrounded by friends who were cuddling up around him. “And it’s good to be back!”


End file.
